Textured surfaces

It has been a while. Sorry about that but I have had vertigo for a couple of months and was not able to use the computer (it makes the dizziness worse). On the good days I was able to do some textile art so that will slowly appear here.

One of the recent Workshop on the Web classes was about creating textured surfaces with mixed media to use creatively. It was a representation of a forest floor and was a lot of fun. I can't share the actual technique but I can share the results. I did one large piece and then cut it into 3 so I could try different colors.

We used skeleton leaves and other things for the texture. I thought I had a lot of leaves so I started with a big piece but then I couldn't find all the leaves I had so I also added some die cut leaves that looked a bit flat and some cut out felt left over from my scrapbooking hobby. Then exactly one week later I found the missing leaves. Isn't that always the way it goes, lol. I will just have to do another one now! 

 I had trouble with the colors on this one but eventually it turned out ok.

Each colorway has potential to make some great projects. I did all of mine on a fabric base so that I could stitch into them easily because I knew that is what I wanted to do.  I think it would make an interesting canvas art piece too. Instructions are available in the September 2016 edition of the Workshop on the Web program. You can click on the link on the right.

I have cut up some of the red piece and made two journals using denim and my handmade papers. I added some stitching on the plainer leaves to make them fit in better with the skeleton leaves. The stitched borders I added are a stitch that was new to me called Palestrina stitch. I found the instructions in an early edition of Quilting Arts magazine.  I also made a mini photo album cover (lower right).